NASA, Northrop Grumman postpone Cygnus XL arrival to ISS following propulsion situation – Spaceflight Now

Northrop Grumman’s new Cygnus XL spacecraft will now not dock with the International Space Station Wednesday morning as initially deliberate.

In a weblog submit Tuesday night, NASA introduced that two, orbit-raising burns of the spacecraft’s fundamental engine “stopped earlier than planned.” The company didn’t state how a lot of the deliberate burns have been in a position to be carried out previous to the untimely shutdowns.

NASA additionally didn’t point out what might have precipitated the engine to not carry out as anticipated. 

While mission managers evaluate plans to conduct the remaining rendezvous maneuvers, the company stated, “All other Cygnus XL systems are performing normally,” however didn’t provide additional particulars.

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim was initially scheduled to seize the Cygnus XL spacecraft at 6:35 a.m. EDT (1035 UTC) alongside fellow NASA astronaut Zena Cardman. Kim is tasked with commanding the Canadarm2 robotic arm to connect to the car whereas it’s about 10 meters (32.8 ft) from the ISS.

The Cygnus XL spacecraft, named the S.S. William ‘Willie’ C. McCool launched from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 6:11 p.m. (2211 UTC) on Sunday, Sept. 14. The cargo ship efficiently separated from the rocket’s higher stage greater than 14 minutes after liftoff.

NASA reported that the car was in a position to deploy its two photo voltaic arrays roughly an hour and a half after departing from the area coast.

A day earlier than that launch, an uncrewed Russian Progress car arrived on the area station on Saturday on a deliberate cargo provide run.

What’s at stake?

This mission, NASA’s Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 23 or NG-23 for brief, is the debut of the Cygnus XL. As the identify suggests, it’s a bigger model of the Cygnus spacecraft. It’s about 1.6 meters (5.2 ft) longer and may assist about 2,600 kilos of further cargo.

“It’s got 33 percent more capacity than the prior Cygnus spacecraft had,” stated Ryan Tinter, vice chairman of Civil Space Systems for Northrop Grumman previous to the launch. “Obviously, more may sound like better, but it’s really critical because we can deliver significantly more science as well as we’re able to deliver a lot more cargo per launch, really trying to drive down the cost per kilogram to NASA.”

The Cygnus XL is carrying greater than 11,000 kilos (4,990 kg) of meals, science and provides onboard.

“The NG-23 vehicle is packed with consumables, like nitrogen, oxygen, food and toilet parts. And it has a large number of spare parts that are required for systems, for example, like our urine processor,” stated Dina Contella, the deputy supervisor of NASA’s ISS Program, throughout a prelaunch briefing on Friday. “We’re stocking up on these items since we were short over the past year and we’d like to have a good reserved for the future.”

NASA needed to shuffle its deliberate cargo schedule early this yr attributable to one other Cygnus spacecraft. The car earmarked for the NG-22 mission was broken whereas being shipped from Northrop Grumman’s amenities in Virginia all the way down to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

That mission was scheduled to launch in June 2025, so to compensate, NASA adjusted the cargo load on SpaceX’s CRS-32 mission to “add more consumable supplies and food to help ensure sufficient reserves of supplies aboard the station.” The company additionally pulled SpaceX’s CRS-33 and the NG-23 missions ahead on the schedule to shut the hole between cargo runs to the ISS.

“In general, what we’ve done historically is we like to have four months of supplies onboard. And the goal is really, if you have a problem with the next mission, if for some reason that can’t fly, you can make it to the mission after that,” stated Dana Weigel, supervisor of NASA’s ISS Program, following the Aug. 1 launch of the Crew-11 mission to the area station.

“When Northrop Grumman found the spacecraft problem on the NG-22 and realized that it couldn’t fly this year, we quickly adjusted the SpaceX 32 mission. It was unfortunate we had to pull off quite a bit of research, but what I did was load it up with food and water and other consumables,” she defined. “That doesn’t quite get me where I need to be to handle skipping a mission. Once I get [SpX-33] up there, then I’ll be closer to the position where if my next flight doesn’t make it, then I can get all the way to the one after. So, that’s really the strategy.”

The SpX-33 mission, additionally known as CRS-33, efficiently launched from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral on Aug. 24 and autonomously docked to the area station lower than 29 hours afterward Aug. 25.

Not the primary CRS mishap

Northrop Grumman and SpaceX are the 2 U.S. firms at present delivering cargo to the ISS as a part of the Commercial Resupplies Services 2 contract with NASA. Sierra Space was additionally awarded a CRS-2 contract for no less than seven uncrewed cargo missions to the ISS with its Dream Chaser spaceplane. However, it has not launched but and it stays unclear when it’s first launch will happen.

To date, SpaceX accomplished 31 flights with one Cargo Dragon car at present on station. Northrop Grumman has efficiently accomplished 20 cargo flights. Both firms skilled in-flight anomalies early of their flight historical past.

SpaceX launches its Dragon spacecraft with its Falcon 9 rockets. Northrop Grumman can also be utilizing the Falcon 9 to get to orbit whereas it continues improvement of its Antares 330 rocket in partnership with Firefly Aerospace. Its first launch is anticipated in 2026.

Meanwhile, the subsequent cargo mission on the schedule, following the deliberate arrival of the NG-23 Cygnus XL, is one other new spacecraft known as the HTV-X. It is being provided by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries with assist from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The HTV-X is scheduled to launch on an H3 rocket from Japan on Oct. 21.